Nikon has officially announced its new D5200: a mid-range DSLR targeted at consumers, but with guts inspired by its more expensive stablemate, the D7000.

The D5200 packs a 24.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, EXPEED 3 processor, 5fps continuous shooting, a 1-pound lightweight body, and an ISO range of 100-6400. It benefits from the exact same 39-point autofocus system as the D7000, as well as its 2,016-pixel RGB metering sensor—which should go some way to improving white balance over the old D5100.

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Elsewhere, the D5200 capable of shooting 1080i video at 60fps, has two stereo microphones embedded just behind the flash, and there's an external microphone input to boot, for budding film makers. It can also handle wireless transmission to iOS and Android devices—though you'll need an optional wireless adapter. That might be worth it though, because as well as data transfer it opens up the possibility of remote control, too.

While packing in as many new features as possible, however, the new DSLR does keep a lot of the physical hallmarks of the old D5100, including its articulating 3-inch LCD. It's also worth pointing out that there are plenty of features that the D7000 offers that haven't made it here: there's no weather sealing, it only has one SD slot, the viewfinder's considerably smaller, and it's slower in burst mode, to name a few.

But hey, that's not really the point. The point is that it borrows some high-level specs and pumps them into an accessible camera—you only need check out the D5200's built-in effects and scene modes, and the fact that's available in back, red and bronze, to work that out. The D5200 will hit the shelves in December 2012 , and is expected to cost around $1100 for the body only. [Peta Pixel]